ENTREVESTOR: U.S. health firm offers local product

A curing light is used to give a demonstration of the checkMARC patient simulator at BlueLight Analytics in Halifax earlier this year. (RYAN TAPLIN / STAFF)

The world’s largest provider of health-care products and services has begun to offer Halifax-based BlueLight Analytic Inc.’s main product to its customers in Canada.

Henry Schein, Inc., the Melville, N.Y.-based medical product distributer that had US$9.6 billion in sales last year, issued a statement last week saying its Henry Schein Canada subsidiary will be the first distributor of checkMARC, BlueLight’s main product. CheckMARC is the world’s only independent and accurate measurement system for testing the amount of light dentists use for curing the resin in their patients’ dental fillings.

“We’ve been doing things with Schein almost from the very beginning,” said BlueLight CEO Colin Deacon in an interview. “They’ve even lent us dentist chairs at conferences so we could do demonstrations. Then about a year ago we really began to talk seriously about doing something together.”

Deacon said BlueLight is also talking to “about half a dozen” other private sector companies about distributing checkMARC. The company is now four years old and Deacon said it is starting to bring in meaningful revenues in 2014, though he declined to provide details.

“What’s really great about this deal is that they (Schein) are paying for the first test provided to each dentist,” said Deacon. “They see checkMARC as central to the quality of care.”

Built from an idea generated at Dalhousie University, checkMARC addresses a sizable problem in modern dentistry. Dentists make more than half their income from resin-based fillings, but have never been able to ensure they are using the right amount of energy when curing the resin. CheckMARC lets dentists check their curing lights and make sure the energy levels are optimal.

BlueLight provides the checkMARC equipment and software to Henry Schein. and then earns revenue each time they are used to test a dentist’s curing light.

“Henry Schein customers rely on us to provide the latest innovations in products and services,” Peter Jugoon, Henry Schein Canada’s vice-president, marketing and planning, said in the statement.

“BlueLight’s checkMARC service brings cutting-edge technology to dental practices, helping to improve the quality of care and patient experience.”

In January, Deacon gave a presentation on checkMARC to the U.S. military at an event in San Diego, and he said the talks with the military are ongoing. The American forces provide medical and dental treatment for all their personnel, and spend more on dental services than all of Ireland.

“What’s exciting about the U.S. military is that they have the payer, the provider, and the patient all in one organization,” said Deacon. “They’re unique from that perspective and we can provide them a unique opportunity.”

Still, the driving force behind the company’s growth now is the dealings with private sector distributors, including Schein. The company has 10 full-time employees, is now searching for two programmers, and will soon announce other openings.

BlueLight so far has been funded by angel investors, and has just closed a round of $750,000 in equity funding.